I wanted to throw out some tracks from one of my favorite Brit-Pop bands, Super Furry Animals. Signed to Creation (the greatest label evah) in the early 90’s, SFA released some of the most drug-induced, psychedelic pop/punk, electro whatever records on the planet. They are a band that is constantly innovating and changing with the times, but still drawing from the past for melodic, hook driven songs.Their first release, Fuzzy Logic, has less experimentation than more recent albums, but for some reason I still believe that this one is their best (Rings Around the World being a close second). So get fuzzed and sing along.. especially on the last song (for now and ever) which sounds like a missing link to the ending of GREASE, if it were made today.

I will spare everyone by not putting the Flash Gordon theme on here. You all have heard it…. and if you haven’t, well then there is no hope for you. Instead, I wanted to privy you to some of the other tracks from this movie because they kick so much ass that no jedi or trekkie soundtrack can even come close. It was hard picking the songs I wanted to share. Queen really followed the perfect rule for films by creating musical themes with certain characters or events.

What is surprising is Queen rocks out so hard in the classic Queen style, yet the songs totally fit the futuristic feel of the movie. Listen to “Battle Theme”. Brian May’s lead guitars sound like they flew in straight from planet Mars (that rhymed..teehee!). The next up is Ming’s theme. Totally evil, totally huge, and very memorable. Then lastly I chose The Wedding March. Starts out very standard Queen with the lead guitar noodlies. Then the song turns to the dark-side just to remind you that the wedding is for the crazed universal Hitler-esque Ming the Merciless. Awesome. Enjoy :)

At 14 years old, while the other kids in high school were out partying and living it up, I was busy dorking it up at home watching music documentaries on PBS. At the time, the thought had never occured to me that I would eventually become a songwriter. I was just a kid who was really, really into music and singing. Buying CD’s and raiding my sister’s music collection was a daily occurance, and much of my youth was spent lost in a daze of stereo components and mixed tapes. However, I clearly remember the night that the folk singer Pete Seeger appeared on my TV. I thought to myself “don’t forget his name… pete seeger….pete seeger…pete seeger”. By the weeks end his albums found their way to my cd player, and I retreated into a dusty world that seemed like the perfect musical backdrop to a Steinbeck novel.

Mentioning Pete Seeger’s name usually brings out lame conversations like the following:

lame ass -“isn’t that the guy who sings Like A Rock?”

me -“no, that would be Bob Seeger, the biggest retard in music history”

lame ass -“oh”

Rattle off a few of ol Petey’s greats, and then you get a smile and a nod of recognition: Turn, Turn, Turn. Where Have All The Flowers Gone? Wimoweh. Guantanamera. If I Had A Hammer. We Shall Overcome.These are all folk classics, yet why is it that people don’t know the name Pete Seeger? It’s a hard thing to explain, but I think it has to do with the fact that Seeger’s career fell smack dab in between two giants known as Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan. Acting as a bridge between them, his own legacy became overshadowed.

Being a best friend of Woody and a mentor to Bob (he personally took young Bobby under his wing to help him tour) Pete’s namesake remains firmly fixed as that of a union/protest singer and not much else. Guthrie’s best songs had a more universal appeal and tone, and Dylan ascribed to being no one’s political pet, eventually abandoning the protest movement altogether. Pete chose to remain behind, and unfortunately songs about unions and scabs and big boss men don’t resonate as well with the kids now a days. On top of that, Pete was more of a banjo man, which also may have hindered his chance with a mainstream audience.

All of that said, I think Pete Seeger is one of the best singer/songwriters that has ever lived. His melodies are made to be sung, his stories are full and rich, and his technique is flawless. Having seen a huge resurgence in the indie-folk scene, I point my finger with scorn to all the wannabe Beardo Mcgee’s that think they are folk artists and say “learn from this master”.

If I had to chop off my manhood and become any female singer for a day, I think it would have to be either Julie Andrews or Karen Carpenter. They easily have the cleanest and the purest vocals of anyone in the music biz. I have never heard any woman out-sing these two. They are the kind of singers that can lay it down in one take.. and if they have to do another take, they make the speakers go out of phase cus their vocals are pretty much perfect every time. There ain’t no computers fixing bad notes here, baby! What I also love about each of them is not only are they GREAT singers, but they are so unique that you can instantly recognize them as soon as they hit their first notes.

I decided to put on here my all-time favorite Julie Andrews song “Feed The Birds” from Marry Poppins. What I love about this tune is not only her voice, but the actual song construction itself. It starts out minor, but somehow has a light quality to it with Julie singing. When it finally reaches the chorus the whole song drops down a key and goes major! Normally a song going from minor to major would go UP a key giving it lift and becoming “happy”. This does the opposite but still retains the same effect. The other song I put on is the Carpenters “For All We Know”. Karen has a very “alto” voice and her range dips into almost male tenor from time to time. She can still sing quite high, but she never really needs to. Karen was known to be overly perfectionist about how she sounded, and that suits me just fine.